Late spring at Khirbet al-Mudayna al-‘Aliya, Jordan - Part 2

Posted on: 19 May 2022 by Diederik J. H. Halbertsma in 2022 posts

In order to tackle some of these questions I organised the fieldwork project we’re currently enjoying. I really wanted to visit the site to take a closer look at its many structures, and pay particular attention to building techniques, potential quarrying locations, and the order the site was built in. Then I got to thinking, how will I be able to address all the questions I’ll have, especially as throughout my PhD I’ll likely come up with more and more questions that I can’t even think of yet? If only there was a way of ‘bringing the site home with me’!

This is when I started thinking of capturing the site in 3D using photogrammetry. For those who don’t know, photogrammetry software is able to reconstruct physical objects and the environment in 3D based on overlapping photographic images. I’d had success in the past capturing squares and objects I’d excavated in 3D using this method but had never applied it at a scale like this. Really, a scale such as this would require the use of drones or kites, both of which are very difficult to use in Jordan due to local restrictions and weather conditions. I approached several people around the Department to help me develop a method with which to successfully capture this site using photogrammetry, and over the past year we had many brainstorming sessions (thank you JR Peterson!). We finally agreed on a method which, though it’d stretch the limits of the software, should theoretically work. In order to do this, we’d need to cut the site up into ‘bite-sized’ chunks which we’d capture at several angles using 2.5 m. camera poles. Several trials back in Liverpool looked promising, so all that was left was gathering a team to bring to Jordan!

I’d secured funding from the Wainwright Fund for Near Eastern Archaeology, the Palestine Exploration Fund, the NWCDTP and ACE in order to conduct this fieldwork season with 5 people including Bruce and I. I managed to convince ACE’s senior technician Christopher Scott and ACE alumna Rachel Stokes to join me, as well as my Jordanian colleague Laith Alshboul with whom I’d worked in the past. Unfortunately, Bruce couldn’t join us in the end, meaning that I was suddenly the sole director of the project! Fortunately, I’ve worked in Jordan since 2013 and am familiar with the country. Still a bit nervous about this new responsibility, though, but well prepared I set off for Jordan.

After securing a research permit from the Department of Antiquities of Jordan we set off for the village of as-Simakiyah, which is close to the site, where we rented a house for our stay. The next day, which is now one week ago, we were headed to the site in our jeep! For the best results with photogrammetry, we require the best outside lighting conditions possible. Hence, we wanted to get to the site each day just before sunrise (ca. 5 AM), and before sunset (ca. 7.30 PM) to have minimal shadows during those ‘golden hours’. This also lets us avoid the more extreme heat of the day, which can reach well over 35 degrees midday. After a bumpy ride across the wide landscape of this beautiful region of Jordan we suddenly saw the site. Words really can’t describe just how impressive it is! Reading about its massive fortification structures and seeing them for yourself are indeed two very different things.

The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry, as the saying goes, and documenting the site using photogrammetry indeed proved a bit more difficult than assumed at first. The terrain is very difficult to traverse, the difference in elevation between areas proved quite challenging to properly capture on camera, and it was sometimes difficult to keep track of where we’d already been. Fortunately, the 3D models we processed back in the dig-house showed that we were on the right track, and where necessary we adjusted our tactics. We mark the transects we should walk using coloured flags to keep us on the right track (see fig. 6), and capture areas with high elevation from multiple angles. Now, one and a half week into the project, we’ve almost captured the entire 2.3 ha. site with all its difficulties, and the models are turning out great! This shows that the methodology we’ve constructed really seems to work, even under difficult circumstances such as at KMA. This should make for an interesting research paper!

We have about one week left to finish up, which is a very luxurious position to be in. The coming days we’ll revisit areas of the site which require a bit more coverage, and we’ll document the site’s cisterns which are located further downslope. We’ll also have several excursions to the aforementioned similar nearby sites, which we’ll compare to KMA. Thus far this field season is a fantastic experience. It is great to be out in the field in Jordan again, eating local delicacies, enjoying the heat, and discussing archaeology with my team pretty much 24/7!

For anyone interested in my research and/or what we did in Jordan, do not hesitate to contact me. We’ll keep you posted on our progress here!

Ma’a salame!